


parasite

by artsyspikedhair



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Canon Jewish Character, Families of Choice, Flashbacks, Gen, Inspired By Tumblr, Legilimency, Lowercase, MACUSA | Magical Congress of the United States of America, Obscurial Credence Barebone, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-20 17:01:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11339643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyspikedhair/pseuds/artsyspikedhair
Summary: magic has a mind of its own. and queenie- well, queenie can read minds.





	parasite

**Author's Note:**

> loosely based on this tumblr post: http://thegaypumpingthroughyourveins.tumblr.com/post/155290991130/what-i-like-to-think-is-that-when-credence-came

when credence first came to live with them, two days after the- the-queenie can't find the words- time he almost died?- no- the- the incident at the subway, he seemed like a normal mind. it was an unusually fearful mind, with lots of layers of denial and self-doubt coating every thought in such a way that queenie often felt like credence must have a constant headache from all that thinking. but she tried her best not to pry, and to feed with skinny boy as much as he'd eat. mary lou barebone may have cared more about handing out those dirty useless leaflets than she did feeding her foster children, but queenie and tina were going to ensure that credence knew they were not her. queenie smiled at credence, asking him about how the food was, insisted he didn't need to do the dishes, no really, he should get ready for bed. tina was better at hands-on intervention. queenie was charming, but that was only to mask the fact that she had no idea how to interact with a traumatized Christian teenager. she had avoided doing the blessings for his sake, but how long could - should- they keep their religion from him? what if he thought the goldsteins were sinners? 

but credence was surprising. he was curious, seemed almost desperate to believe in any kind of god that was not his mother's. he asked to join them on saturdays, when the sisters went to services, and tina told him he could come along. queenie heard his thoughts, his confusion over how different and nice everyone seemed, his awe at their temple. queenie was no longer afraid of credence. she did hear his mind repeat his mother's antisemitism, but queenie couldn't blame a man for how he had been raised. after all, queenie had been raised by ilvermorny, and it took her years to realize how racist her school was. 

credence felt a need to have purpose in his life. he was far too old to go any school, wizarding or no-maj, so queenie had decided to take credence on as her apprentice. she never had much work anyway, essentially being an errand-girl for the aurors, which meant she had more time to help credence. she was teaching him magic. queenie didn't tell anyone, not even her sister, because she was afraid the government would disapprove, but she had lost her jacob to that government and credence was so desperate to learn that she couldn't resist the desire to teach him what she could. 

she began with spells related to the job. queenie was in charge of any mishaps or damage to surroundings, which happened a lot in the MACUSA. so she would see credence attempting to glue a mug back together. when she first said "no, that's not how we do it, here-" is when credence's other mind came out. the mind repeated itself and was absolutely terrified, and credence's rational mind tried to reason with it, but you can't control emotions, so queenie just handed him her wand, hoping it would distract him. 

"i-i can use this?" 

queenie decided not to mention the illegality of what they were doing. "yes. now try to channel all your thought into remembering how the cup was before it broke, and say 'reparo'" 

queenie could see credence was following her instructions, and the irrational mind was doing the imagining. queenie could tell because she could sense the magic in it. that irrational mind must be credence's magic-his obscurius.

"reparo!" the shatter pieces of the cup moved astonishingly fast, and in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it instance, the cup was whole again. 'i did magic.' credence thought to himself. 'i must be a real wizard now!' 

queenie couldn't help herself. she ran up to credence and hugged him."you did it! i knew you could!" she herself had been surprised at how fast the magic had worked, especially using the wrong wand, but figured magic that repressed must have been dying for a release. 

credence flinched when queenie touched him because the obscurial mistook her touch for graves', and graves' hugs always led to worse things. much much worse things. queenie heard these thoughts and stepped back. "sorry, honey, i forgot myself there. here, tina wanted me to deliver some papers to picquery, but i think it's time you learn to handle the building on your own." she figured credence could use some time alone after the discoveries they had made. credence silently took the papers and left thanking queenie in his head.

from there the magic got easier. queenie did not introduce it too often, only when she knew credence was having a bad day, like when tina had been woken by credence's nightmares or queenie could sense credence just wasn't quite there. she didn't mean to invade credence's privacy, but the boy had so many negative emotions inside him, even after a few months of nothing but kindness from the goldsteins, that ignoring his thoughts would be like pretending not to hear someone screaming at the top of their lungs right next to you. not to mention the obscurius had thoughts of its own, or, well, feelings. anyway. she taught him spells that were useful on the job, like the ones that make the paper mice go and aguamenti, for washing away the blood from the obliviator room. credence gained confidence with every success, and queenie gladly took the blame for any failures that ended in explosions. (her femininity came in handy sometimes, the way people constantly underestimated her.) 

credence was learning to enjoy life. his routines no longer included standing outside in the freezing cold handing out pamphlets or getting beaten by a woman he has always longed to love him. instead he was blessed with the goldstein sisters, who genuinely did seem to love him. the blonde one was even teaching him magic! 

but then there was news. horrible, wonderful news. tina was the one to break it, over shabbat dinner. she said it casually, as if she wasn't just destroying the only safe space credence had ever known. "picquery informed me today that the real mr. graves has been found. he's- he's alive." tina wasn't sure herself how to feel about the news, having resigned herself to her boss' death months earlier. 

credence, however, felt like he was being torn apart. "how- what do you mean the real mr. graves?!" he asked, frighteningly calm, but queenie could tell it was the obscurius, afraid and tryingtryingtrying so hard not to cry, not to remember how the man he thought was his friend called him a squib after- after touching him- after refusing to help him when he had just killed his own mother- after credence had failed to find the child and graves hit him and pinned him to the dirty concrete in the alleyway he will forever think of as theirs- 

"credence!" queenie called out, unable to take much more of what was happening. "credence, honey, it's okay, you're okay, what tina meant was- that man you met lied to you about his name. he's really known as a man called-" 

credence wasn't listening, the only thought in his head- "he lied to me he lied to me he lied- NOT EVEN HIS GODDAMN NAME WAS REAL?!" and suddenly credence was crying and he was still trying so hard to not let the obscurius take over because the last time he lost control the government tried to kill him but now graves will be back in government so does it really matter if he lives? 

"credence, sweetheart, i am not going to let him hurt you. it does matter if you live, and tina and i will kill every government official in office if it meant you would be safe again. you're trying so hard, if you want to lose control it'll be okay, there will be hot cocoa when you come back." and queenie's reassurances calmed credence down enough that all that came out were wisps of smoke. 

his voice was hoarse. "cocoa- " credence sniffled. "cocoa sounds nice." mary lou never made him cocoa.

credence avoided the MACUSA for a few days. tina told him it was fine, and queenie reassured him she could handle the workload. 

and it was a good thing credence had not come back because graves was a mess. he was only barely alive, his entire torso covered in cuts that he did not have enough magic of his own to fully heal. he hadn't eaten since grindelwald had been locked up, because he was being kept in a stolen house in Massachusetts. he had had the full body bind curse on him for so long that his muscles had atrophied in his absence, and all in all he most definitely belong in the Healing Wing of the MACUSA, where he was being kept. credence had never known this man, and yet the mere mention of his name sent flashbacks shooting through his brain. queenie felt so guilty at one point she took a day off to be with credence, because queenie knew what it was like to have a tormentor come back when you thought you were safe. queenie knew. 

she spent the stolen day teaching credence spells to defend himself. "it might calm your nerves if you know how to fight the magic way, as i'm sure you've already learned the no-maj way." credence had. he learned expelliarmus, the bat-bogey hex, the cutting charm, and a variety of other spells, some of which queenie only knew from spending so much time around aurors. but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to help this boy find a scrap of safety in this world. 

credence would never think about it around queenie, but it had been tina that taught him how to fight the no-maj way. he loved these sisters, he really did. and maybe that was enough. he knew he would have to either go back to MACUSA or find another job, but he had people on his side now. and, other than modesty, before the goldsteins, credence had never had that before.


End file.
